Nick Carter is the name of a fictional character, who appeared as a private detective in dime novels in 1886 and then featured in various formats for more than a century. The character is particularly famous for featuring in the Killmaster series, which is written by various author sunder the common pseudonym of Nick Carter. This pseudonym was mainly used by the Ace, Award, and Jove publishing for releasing the books of this series. Altogether, there are more than 260 spy adventure novels, starting from 1964 up to 1990, featuring Nick as the main protagonist. No author is actually credited to have written the books and therefore, Nick Carter became the house pen name for the entire series. The volumes vary between third person and first person narrative. Many authors have contributed to the series, including Manning Lee Stokes, Michael Avallone, Gayle Lynds, David Hagberg, Martin Cruz Smith, Valerie Moolman, Robert Randisi, Dennis Lynds, etc. The title character, Nick, is shown serving in AXE as Agent N3. The Axe is a fictional agency of the US government for spying on the rivals. Most of the stories are shown similar to the James Bond books, that is, they are high action sequences and less depiction of gadgets. The sexual encounters are described in great detail. Nick’s full name is Nicholas J. Huntington Carter. His description given in the first book, Run, Spy, Run, is that of a tall, handsome, and lean man having a classic profile, and a muscular body. His eyes are gray and have a cruel, dangerous, and icy look. Nick is hard faced with a straight mouth. His hair is dark and thick. There is a tattoo of blue axe on the lower right arm of Nick. This tattoo depicts the identification of an agent from AXE. In one of the novels of the series, it is mentioned that the tattoo glows brightly in the dark. Nick’s shoulder has a scar from a knife wound, while his right thigh has a wound mark from a shrapnel. Whenever Nick lands in danger, he brings his 6th sense to use and often comes out unhurt.

Another important aspect of Nick’s character is yoga, which he practices every day for a minimum of 15 minutes. Nick has an interest in learning different languages and his ability in quick learning helps him to grasp the foreign languages very easily. Some of the languages that he is very fluent in include English, Greek, French, Italian, German, Hungarian, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Sanskrit. Apart from these, he has learned basic skills in Japanese, Arabic, Swahili, Turkish, Korean, Hindustani, and Romansch. In the initial books, Nick is shown as assuming various disguises to complete his missions. Throughout the entire series, Nick makes use of 3 main weapons, which are specifically named by him and have certain histories associated with them. His gun is named Wilhemina, while his knife is called Hugo. The third and most important weapon used by him is a poisonous gas bomb. Nick keeps this small device inside his pants beside his testicles. This gas bomb is capable of killing anyone or anything who inhales the colorless, odorless gas. Nick possesses many guns, all German Lugars and all given the name Wilhelmina. His knife is a specially made weapon that can retract inside the handle. The code, N3, given to Nick by his spy agency is a special one as it signifies that Nick is among the top three elite agents, called Killmasters. However, different authors have given different explanations to the code in the books. The one thing common in all the explanations is that Nick is an important asset to AXE and a deadly one too.

An early book written in the Killmaster series in entitled ‘The China Doll’. This book was released in the year 1968 by the Award Books publication. This book’s plot is set in New York. The primary characters of this book’s story include Nick Carter, Nikita Khrushchev, and David Hawk. At the start of the book, it is depicted that Nick recuperates at his home after the completion of his last mission. Soon, he learns from the agency that he has been assigned to carry out another assignment. This new assignment requires him to play the role of the personal bodyguard of Nikita Khrushchev. He must ensure her protection at all times when she represents the Soviet Premier during the United Nation’s first session in the city. As soon as Nikita arrives in New York, two assassination attempts take place on her life, but Nick foils both of them. From then on, he keeps Nikita in front of his eyes all the time until the session gets over and she flies back to her country. Nick’s spy agency and its counterpart from the Soviet Union, SIN, think that the attacks on Nikita’s life were carried out on the orders of a Chinese communist group. This group does not want a healthy relation to develop between USA and USSR. Therefore, assassination was meant to disturb the relationship between them. Nick gets paired with an agent from Russia and they both enter China to track the group that ordered Nikita’s assassination. While doing so, they come across a terrorist group called as Claw and learn that this group is the head of all the communist operations. Nick ends up destroying Claw, following which the Russian and American relations improve greatly.

Another popular book of the series is called ‘Saigon’. The Award Books released it in 1964. The story of this novel takes place in North Vietnam, and features the primary characters as Claire La Farge, Nick Carter, Raoul Dupre, and Mr. Hawk. At the beginning of the story, it is depicted that Claire La Farge is the widow of an intelligence officer from France. She resides near a large tea and rice plantation in Vietnam. One day, Claire receives a message in code form from an ex-associate of her dead husband. Not knowing whom to tell about this secret message, Claire decides to put up an advertisement in the Vietnam Times with the hope that her husband’s former colleagues will contact her after reading the advert. She asks her most trusted servant named Saito to book a personal column in the newspaper for the advert. When Raoul Dupre learns about the ad he contacts AXE. Dupre is a well known businessman from Saigon, who has also worked for the French intelligence in the past. After receiving Raoul Dupre’s message, the agency sends Nick to Saigon and orders him to assist Dupre in contacting Claire La Frage and obtaining the coded message from her.

Master of the standalone thriller genre, Shari Lapena, is back. Author of The Couple Next Door and A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest is the latest novel by Shari. It takes place in a cozy mountain lodge in Winter where various people are staying for a romantic getaway. A blizzard cuts off the power and any contact with the outside world so everyone settles in for the long haul. Then a guest dies. And another. Knowing Shari's other books, this should be one we'll be reading late into the night. For more details or to pre-order, visit our Shari Lapena page.

Recommendations

Every 2 weeks we send out an e-mail with 6-8 Book Recommendations. We'll base this on various factors for example "If you like Jack Reacher..." or "If you like short stories in the horror genre". Insert your e-mail below to start getting these recommendations.

MISSING A BOOK?

I do my best to make sure the book lists are complete and current, but due to human or machine error while attempting to keep 3000+ authors up to date, the occasional book can be missed or will be listed under an alternate title. If you see one missing just send me an e-mail below. Thanks!

Author / Series

Book(s)

Featured Series

Our book series of the month is the Will Robie Series by David Baldacci. If you like Mitch Rapp, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne etc then you'll love the Will Robie series. These are page turners to the max too and Baldacci knows how to keep you going all night long!

Featured Author

Bill Wenham is the author of various book series including The Inspector Charrington Mysteries and the Inspector Bruce Mysteries. He just started writing in his 80s to follow a life long dream. It’s an amazing story and the books he has written are pretty great too – his passion really shines through. Read more about Bills books.

Did You Know…

The Kellermans (Faye and her husband, novelist Jonathan) are the only married couple ever to appear on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously (for two different books). Their oldest child, Jesse Kellerman, is a bestselling novelist and award-winning playwright. Their youngest, Aliza Kellerman, co-wrote Prism (2009), a young adult novel, with her mother.